REPORTER CENTRAL KITSAP
KITSAP WEEKLY INSIDE: Small dog, BIG heart! Loving pup serves as inspiration.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 | Vol. 32, No. 14 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
IN THIS EDITION
NEWS Miss Kitsap, Miss Silverdale crowned
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NEWS Gorst explosion knocks welder out cold
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West Sound Wedding Show set for Jan. 31
OLYMPIC TOWERS OVER KINGSTON
Caterers, florists, photographers and more to be featured at annual event
Michelle Beahm / staff photo
From left, Summer Williams, 8, Dale Williams, Logan Williams, 10, and Matt Taran at View Ridge Elementary.
Watch D.O.G.S. gives students positive male role models
BY MICHELLE BEAHM MBEAHM@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Most engagements happen during the holiday season, between November and Valentine’s Day, according to Paula Lowe, publisher of Wedding and Events Magazine. Lowe said many of them get engaged in December. That makes Saturday, Jan. 31, a great day to hold the West Sound Wedding Show in Bremerton’s Kitsap Conference Center. “The most popular time to get married, especially in the northwest, is between May and September, so the wedding professionals get really booked up,” Lowe said, “so it’s important to get them booked as soon as possible.” The West Sound Wedding Show will host more than 50 wedding pro-
BY MICHELLE BEAHM MBEAHM@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
once a person starts thinking about suicide, they can be trapped into thinking that suicide is the only way, they have to die, and they have no choice in the matter,” Schwab said. “It’s at that point that a person makes that attempt. “What I’m trying to really emphasize is, we’re talking about a symptom of an illness, and not a choice. And it is a treatable illness.” He said that around 900 to 1,000
BREMERTON — Dale Williams, retired Navy and father of three Bremerton School District students, just wanted to help kids and make sure they’re safe when he joined the district’s Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) volunteer program. Watch D.O.G.S. is a volunteer program for dads and other positive male role models that works to support education and safety within schools. A national program, it has a presence in more than 5,148 schools in 47 states, according to the Watch D.O.G.S. website (www.fathers.com/watchdogs); it was brought to Bremerton by teacher — and father — Matt Taran about seven years ago. When Taran was teaching at Crownhill Elementary and was vice president of the PTA, he attended a state PTA convention featuring the program. “It was really eye opening,” Taran said. “I remember coming out of it and I said to my wife right away, ‘We’ve got to get this program at our district.’ “ Crownhill Elementary was the first school in the district to implement the Watch D.O.G.S. program, but it soon snowballed. Now most elementary schools and the middle school have the program, and the high school has a similar one called Guiding Knights, though the high school version is for men and women who want to be positive role models. But Watch D.O.G.S. is “just focused
SEE HELP AVAILABLE, A9
SEE WATCH D.O.G.S., A9
Johnny Walker photo
Kingston High School’s Andrew Shaw (14) penetrates an aggressive Olympic defense during league play in Kingston Friday night. Shaw was the Buccaneer top shooter with 18 points. Full story on page 7.
SEE WEDDING, A9
Record suicides in Kitsap County, but help is available BY MICHELLE BEAHM
NEWS Tall ships to stop in Brownsville
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OPINION More fouryear degree programs at OC
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MBEAHM@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
CENTRAL KITSAP – When it comes to suicide, “Sometimes, the warning signs are not big, flashy, blatant signs,” said Kelly Schwab, program supervisor of the Crisis Clinic of the Peninsulas. “Sometimes, they’re pretty small things, that can be hard to notice, and that’s something else to be aware of.” The Crisis Clinic of the Peninsulas helps people in Kitsap and the surrounding area with suicidal thoughts, or who know others with suicidal thoughts. Their 24-hour hotlines are 360-479-3033 for Kitsap or Clallam counties, 360-385-0321 for Jefferson County or 1-800-843-4793. The first three quarters of 2015 have shown a record number of deaths by suicide happened in Kitsap County, a total of 52. (The numbers from the
“They can either try to get the person to talk with us or a mental health professional; they can get the person to go to the emergency room or call 911; or they can try to stay with the person until the crises pass.”” – Kelly Schwab, Crisis Clinic of the Peninsulas (360-479-3033) end of the year have yet to be tallied.) Schwab said part of the increase could have to do with population increase in the area, “but nationwide, there is a trend right now.” “Suicide is becoming more common,” he said, “the rates are going up.” But, Schwab said, “Suicide is a symptom of a mental health condition or a health condition.” He said it’s not unlike asthmatics dying from an asthma attack; dying by suicide is a symptom of an illness. “The way the mind works on it,
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